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Brands Hatch May 27-28th Steve wins by a Hair's Breadth
As
expected for Brands in May, the Classics had another big entry, so much so
that, with 30 cars entered, we had 2 reserves – Anthony Wills and Jon Nash.
With Philip O’Halloran withdrawing due to engine problems, Anthony slipped in,
leaving Jon potentially unable to race. Bad enough for anyone, let alone
someone who now commutes to race in
Anyway,
back to Brands. Jon Nash was relieved when one of the new drivers – a Garrick
Eyre – was a no show, thus giving him the final race slot. ‘I won’t need to
take out Colin (Williams) in qualifying now’ he was heard to mutter as he got
into his car.
Of
the other 26, joining the regulars was Brands expert Paul Sleeman and also two
new drivers to the Classic Championship. Jeremy Bouckley last raced at Brands
in 1964 (!), and was out today in his 1979 Mallock, the only one ever built for
Formula Ford. ‘The circuit looks pretty much the same, although they’ve
improved the toilets, which is nice’. And Damion Gough was making his racing
debut in a very tidy looking RP26. On behalf of Classic FF, welcome to you
both.
Unlike
the previous week (it seems like a month), the weather stayed dry and warm
throughout. Sadly, the CSMA have withdrawn from sponsoring this 2 day meeting
this year, so no air displays, bouncy castles or
And
so to qualifying. All 28 cars hit the track mid morning, and the first few laps
were drama free, whilst drivers tried to warm everything up and find some
space. And then, about 5 laps in, Jon Davis decided to do his Dick Dastardly
impression, by emitting a smokescreen out the back of his car ! The rocker
cover gasket had failed, and was spewing oil onto the exhaust, giving an
almighty plume of smoke that soon covered half of
Not
content with a single lap, Jon merrily carried on for 3 further laps before he
noticed a black and orange board being hung out for him. He pitted next lap to
be met by a none too impressed pitlane official ! Fortunately for Jon, he still
had one or two drops of oil remaining in the sump, so his engine held itself
together, much to the disappointment of the Paddock Hill crowd…
Another
to see a black and orange flag was Alan Williamson, who also ignored his
warning thinking it could only be for Jon ! His problem was a dangling rear
light, which apparently managed to stay with him until he too pitted on lap 12.
Meanwhile,
Ollie Robinson overcooked it into Paddock on lap 9 and spun into the gravel. He
was to spend the rest of the session keeping his fingers crossed that nobody
else would attempt a similar manoeuvre…Fortunately for him, they didn’t.
Paul
Walton had had a lecture from spannerman Robin to ‘get your act together or
retire’. This seemed to have done the trick, as Paul used his head to find some
space on the short Indy circuit, and put the Crossle into pole for the second
year on the trot. Alongside him was Brands instructor Paul Sleeman, taking the
Class B pole. Next up was Ollie, who had done well enough in half the session
to put in another good showing in the RF81. Circuit specialist Andy Powell took
4th despite a spin at Clearways, with Steve Hare and Jon Davis
(amazingly) on the third row. Anthony Wills kept it on the island to take 7th
spot, with David Gathercole next door, with a fresh engine after his Thruxton
blow up. Roger Newman was fairly happy in 9th, after a disgruntled
scrutineer went over his car with a fine toothcomb, and failed it ! This
necessitated a mad half an hour to lengthen the fire extinguisher pull handle,
and re-present the car prior to qualifying. Not what you need after an evening
on the juice in the Kentagon the night before…
David
Penlington took 10th, some 9 tenths off pole, with an evil handling
RP26. Dave Lowe’s miserable season continued with the same electrical misfire
that has bedevilled him all season, which hobbled his Lotus by 7 tenths or so.
Thereafter, the usual midfield gaggle of Messrs Malpas, Marshall and Williams
was joined by Phil Norris, enjoying a better run today in his RP26 to take 15th,
1.3 seconds off pole. Andrew Smith was making progress re-acquainting himself
with his 73 Van Diemen, whilst Jon Nash was mystified with 17th.
Peter Lavender, Alan Williamson and John Hesp rounded out the top 20. Lorraine
Gathercole was next up, with David Owen taking the Novice pole in 22nd.
Joe Walton, fresh from a Geography A level exam on Friday (which meant he
couldn’t test beforehand, and had never driven Brands prior to qualifying) spun
out at Clearways on his tenth lap. Paul Mills, Mark Pearce, Damion Gough, Michael
Valentine and Jeremy Bouckley rounded off the grid.
With
no mechanical dramas in qualifying, the lunchbreak was a relaxed affair, and
everyone got on with preparing their cars for a mid afternoon 14 lap race.
At
the start, the two Pauls led the field into Paddock, Mr Walton making the
better start to take the lead from Mr Sleeman. The rest of the field followed
them down Paddock Hill and up to Druids more or less in grid order. Steve Hare
passed Andy Powell on lap 2, to commence a series of fine overtaking moves
which would put him into the lead 9 laps later. Two other men were also on the
move early on : Jon Nash, making amends for his lowly grid slot, was up to 11th
by the end of lap 2, and Andrew Smith was just behind him, benefiting from a
coming-together between Neil and Dave Malpas out of Druids. Both cars sustained
damage (a bent rear top link on Neil’s RF78, and a missing nosecone on Dave’s
RF78) but continued to finish the race, albeit out of the points.
Paul
Sleeman remained glued to the Walton gearbox for the first 6 laps, with Ollie
keeping a watching brief in third until early in lap 4 when Steve passed him
under breaking for Paddock. Thereafter,
Steve began to haul in the two upfront, leaving Ollie to fend off Andy Powell,
who had his mirrors full of David Gathercole. Behind, Anthony, Jon Davis and
David Penlington had a race-long dice until disaster struck two laps from the
flag.
Steve
passed Paul Sleeman on lap 6 (quite how I know not, but he will be describing
his race himself in a separate ‘driver’s report’).
On
lap 7, Mark Pearce suffered a big moment when he went to brake for Druids,
found himself with no braking effort being applied whatsoever, and launched his
RF81 over the rear of Dave Owen’s RF78. Mark smashed back down to the track
nose first, which ended his race on the spot. It could have been so much worse,
so Mark was reasonably happy that the damage was no worse than front end. But
the lack of brakes was a mystery to him. Dave was able to continue, albeit
after some delay.
So,
by the end of lap 8 we had Paul Walton from Steve, Paul Sleeman, a slight gap
to Ollie, a slight gap to Andy Powell,
then David Gathercole, Anthony, David Penlington, Jon Davis, a gap back to
Roger, clear of Jon Nash, then Andrew Smith, Dave Lowe, Peter, Phil, Alan and
Colin
Both Paul Walton and Steve were side by side into Paddock on laps
9 and 10, but Paul held on up to Druids, protecting his line firmly on both
occasions. But the backmarkers were now coming into sight, and it was Michael
Valentine who provided Steve with his opportunity, coming out of Graham Hill on
lap 11. With Michael blocking in Paul, Steve took the lead which he held to the
flag 3 laps later
The
following lap, as Anthony was attempting to lap Damion Gough, they tangled along
the Cooper Straight, Anthony spinning into the tyres. Damion suffered front
suspension damage, but completed the lap to record a finish, but Anthony yet
again went home with a bent car and one point instead of 5. Being the nice
bloke that he is, he presented Damion with a case of Cobra as a consolation
prize !
At
the flag then, it was an overjoyed Steve Hare from Paul Walton, with Paul
Sleeman taking the Class B win only a fraction behind. Ollie held on for 4th,
with David Gathercole passing Andy Powell 3 laps from the end to take 5th
and his first points haul of the season.
David Penlington, Roger, Jon Nash and Andrew Smith rounded out the top
ten.
The
Cobra Driver of the Day Award went (for the second race in succession) to the
racewinner, for some superb overtaking of some very quick drivers. Well played
Steve. But there were also several other good performances based on
improvements in grid position : Jon Nash came from 17th up to 9th,
Andrew Smith from 16th to 10th, and Peter Lavender from
18th to 13th. Going in the opposite direction was Jon
Davis (from 6th to 11th), who held off Dave Lowe to take
the final Class B trophy.
In
the Novice Challenge, Joe Walton was leading when he again misjudged Clearways
and spun, yielding the win to Paul Mills. Paul looks like bowing out of the
Championship due to lack of funds, which is a big shame. We hope its only
temporary Paul ! With Paul’s demise, Joe takes a convincing lead in the novice
battle.
Up
at the front, Steve’s win gives him an 8 point advantage over Paul Walton, who jumps
up from 6th to 2nd in Class A, with David Penlington a point
adrift in 3rd. Ollie could also be up there later in the season,
dropping only the single point for his non finish at Thruxton, and of course
Simon Davey, in the States on business this weekend, will also be dropping this
meeting. Its wide open at the moment
In
Class B, Jon Davis has a 9 point lead over joint second place Dave Lowe and an
improving Andrew Smith. When Dave cures his electrical problems, and Andrew continuing
to get quicker, the Class B title is also wide open right now.
As
Ian Sowman says on www.ff1600.uk , this is
a really intriguing series shaping up.
ADH.
Drivers Race Report by Steve Hare The Thursday before the race I logged on to www.ff1600.co.uk to read Ian Sowman’s view
of how the season is going & who to watch out for at Brands. Whilst I’ve
managed a couple of podiums this season, I was surprised to be Ian’s tip for
the race win & hoped it wouldn’t prove to be a jinx ! Qualifying As we were waved out onto the circuit, it was more like the start of a
race, as the front cars were immediately going as fast as there warming tyres
& brakes would allow. Any thoughts of getting 3 steady laps in (especially
important as I was still under the impression we had reserves) immediately
disappeared as I attempted to stay with the six cars in front of me – made up
of the usual front running Walton, Penlington, Robinson, Powell etc. Once I got
some heat in the tyres I realised that the understeer I was experiencing was
due to having too much front anti roll bar. However this didn’t seem to be
compromising my relative speed too much and I managed to have enough pace to pick
off the odd car. As usual there was some good dicing going on with tough but fair
defensive driving. My only real incident was Paul Sleeman christening his new
nose cone on one of my ACB9s at Druids. Jonathan
Davis dropping oil & Oliver Robinson ending up in the Paddock Hill Bend
gravel trap mid session meant that most drivers probably produced their best
lap very early on. Although my onboard timer gave a best lap of 52.8 against my
official time of 53.07, I was still pleased to be fifth on the grid, & 0.3
seconds off pole. All in all I think qualifying went well for most, it was good to see
Paul Walton back at the sharp end on pole, closely followed by ten drivers all
within a second. Oliver Robinson & Jo Walton’s off seemed to be damage free
& most importantly, due to having two people drop out of the meeting the
week before, we were ‘down’ to the maximum allowable grid size of 28 so
everyone qualified for the race. Even Jonathan Davis’s smoke screen &
continual ignoring of the black & orange flag earned him no more than a
slap on the wrist ! The Race I had no real tactics for the race, other than try & drag my way on
to the podium if possible. As the lights went out everyone maintained position,
with Paul Walton leading Paul Sleeman, followed by Oliver Robinson, Andy Powell
& then me. The car was handling better with far less understeer due to some
post qualifying adjustments. After a couple of laps the five of us seemed to
have broken away sufficiently from the rest of the pack (led by David
Gathercole) that I didn’t need to watch my mirrors all the time & take
defensive lines into Paddock / Druids / Clearways. This allowed me on lap 2 to
get a good run and a tow from Andy along the Brabham straight and into Paddock
Hill Bend first. Next was Oliver, again I got a tow along Brabham at the end of
lap 4, as I closed in on his gearbox, I could see he was watching in his
mirrors to see which way I was going to try & pass, I decided to try a
dummy to get me space to go down the inside, I jinked left which he immediately
defended as was his right, but by then I was already turning back to the right,
giving me the inside line for the corner which I managed to hold up the hill to
Druids. The two Pauls were now a couple of seconds down the road with the
poleman still in the lead, but I could see by their lines they were slowing
each other down. This allowed me to catch them relatively easily. The last
thing I wanted to do was lose my momentum & settle into a three car train
so as I caught them on lap 6 I tried & managed to make stick a pass on Paul
S. I now had two problems, first was Paul S on my gearbox meaning I had to
watch my mirrors & entry lines and secondly we were coming up on the back
markers. Lap after lap I managed to get along side Paul W along Brabham, every
time he stayed right giving himself the inside for Paddock, each time I had no
choice but to go high & left – tight up to the service road, then brake as
late as I could, apex as late as I could & try & get the car to stay
tight on the right to give me the inside for the hairpin. But Paul’s been
racing a long time & isn’t a double Champion for nothing ! He knew what I
was trying to do and each time as he apexed he stayed right – although it compromised
his exit speed a little, it gave him the best line for Druids. I had a look at
passing on a few other places on the circuit but Paul’s car positioning was
spot on. On lap 12, Paul & I caught Michael Valentine on the run from the
hairpin down to Graham Hill Bend, with Paul S a few car lengths back & only
2 laps to go I decided this was probably going to be one of my last good
opportunities to get past Walton Senior. Michael stayed mid track as we
approached the left hand bend, Paul went left to the inside, so I went right
& hoped Michael wouldn’t ! It worked & I got a better run out of the
corner giving me the lead. The last 2 laps of watching Paul, the backmarkers
and trying to maintain a good pace were tough, particular thanks to the spin-recovering
Jo Walton for staying wide at Paddock as we started the last lap – just as well
the Waltons don’t employ Ferrari F1 Team tactics ! I managed to hold the lead to
the flag, with Paul W half a second behind & Paul S a further half second
down. There were some good scraps all down the field with the best
performances coming from John Nash (17th to 9th) and
Andrew Smith (16th to 10th). Anthony Wills & Mark
Pearce were the only two retirements of the day, whilst obviously not good news
for them, it’s not a bad result for 28 cars on a 1.2 mile circuit. Winning only our third race in fourteen years of trying was rather nice
to say the least, I just want to thank to my fellow drivers for some great
racing and Nick Booth & Nim Faldu for all their help with preparing &
running the car. Also thanks to Ian Sowman for his race prediction, more of the
same please Ian ! Getting fastest race lap & Cobra driver of the day
rounded off a superb weekend. What a season it’s turning out to be …. 3 races with 3 different winners,
and surely Paul Walton, Dave Penlington & Oliver Robinson are all due a win
soon, previous 2006 winners Rory Farrell and Simon Davey are rumoured to be
back for Oulton, so the only thing that’s certain is whoever wins Class A this
year won’t be doing so with the 30 or 40 point margin that Paul has managed the
last two seasons !
Cobra Driver of the Day - Steve Hare | |
